LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - August 11, 2010) - Dutch biopharmaceutical company
Crucell N.V. (NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL) (SWISS: CRX) today announces
its intention to participate in an international Phase I clinical trial
in the
United States and Africa of a combination of two AdVac®-based AIDS
vaccine
candidates, Ad26.ENVA.01 and Ad35-ENV, in healthy adults who are not
infected
with HIV. The clinical trial, which will be led by the International
AIDS
Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), represents a collaboration between IAVI,
Crucell, the
Ragon Institute, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a
major
teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.

The Ad26.ENVA.01 vaccine candidate used in this study is
manufactured by
Crucell, while the Ad35-ENV vaccine is developed by IAVI. Both
vaccines
candidates are based on Crucell's proprietary AdVac® technology. The
planned
Phase 1 trial of the vaccine combination, which follows a Phase I trial
of the
Ad35-ENV vaccine by IAVI and a Phase I trial of Ad26.ENVA.01 by
the
Harvard-Crucell consortium, supported by the National Institute of
Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID), represents a key step towards proof of
concept
studies to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine combination in humans.

The Phase I trial is designed to test two AIDS vaccine candidates
in a
prime-boost combination in HIV-uninfected healthy adult volunteers.
The
objectives are to evaluate the safety of the candidate vaccines
Ad26.ENVA.01 and
Ad35-ENV and their ability to provoke an immune response when administered
in a
prime-boost regimen.

"We are very happy that IAVI has decided to support the NIAID-
sponsored
Crucell-Harvard AIDS vaccine program, making it possible to advance this
vaccine
candidate further towards proof of concept Phase IIb efficacy trials in
humans,"
said Jaap Goudsmit, Chief Scientific Officer at Crucell. "A
different
prime-boost AIDS vaccine approach has been shown in the RV144 trial (Thai
Trial)
to protect against HIV in humans, for the first time in the history of
AIDS
vaccine development. Our program to develop this combination vaccine
represents
one of the most advanced AIDS vaccine programs in the world and is based
on the
best science available today. We have the obligation as vaccine producers
to do
everything in our power to bring an effective AIDS vaccine to all
people in
need."

About Crucell

Crucell N.V. (NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL) (SWISS: CRX) is a global
biopharmaceutical company focused on research development, production
and
marketing of vaccines, proteins and antibodies that prevent and/or
treat
infectious diseases. In 2009 alone, Crucell distributed more than 115
million
vaccine doses in more than 100 countries around the world, with the
fast
majority of doses (97%) going to developing countries. Crucell is one
of the
major suppliers of vaccines to UNICEF and the developing world. Crucell
was the
first manufacturer to launch a fully-liquid pentavalent vaccine.
Called
Quinvaxem®, this innovative combination vaccine protects
against five
important childhood diseases. Over 130 million doses have been sold
since its
launch in 2006 in more than 50 GAVI countries. With this innovation,
Crucell has
become a major partner in protecting children in developing countries.
Other
products in Crucell's core portfolio include a vaccine against hepatitis B
and a
virosome-adjuvanted vaccine against influenza. Crucell also markets
travel
vaccines, such as an oral anti-typhoid vaccine, an oral cholera vaccine
and the
only aluminum-free hepatitis A vaccine on the market. The Company has a
broad
development pipeline, with several product candidates based on its
unique
PER.C6® production technology. The Company licenses its PER.C6®
technology
and other technologies to the biopharmaceutical industry. Important
partners and
licensees include Johnson & Johnson, DSM Biologics, sanofi-aventis,
Novartis,
Wyeth, GSK, CSL and Merck & Co. Crucell is headquartered in
Leiden, the
Netherlands, with offices in China, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Malaysia,
Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, UK, the USA and Vietnam. The Company employs over
1200
people. For more information, please visit www.crucell.com.

About Crucell's AdVac® technology

AdVac® technology is a vaccine technology developed by
Crucell. It is
considered to play an important role in the fight against
emerging and
re-emerging infectious diseases, and in biodefense. The technology
supports the
practice of inserting genetic material from the disease-causing
virus or
parasite into a 'vehicle' called a vector, which then delivers the
immunogenic
material directly to the immune system. Most vectors are based on an
adenovirus,
such as the virus that causes the common cold. The AdVac®
technology is
specifically designed to manage the problem of pre-existing immunity in
humans
against the most commonly used recombinant vaccine vector, adenovirus
serotype
5 (Ad5), without compromising large-scale production capabilities or
the
immunogenic properties of Ad5. AdVac® technology is based on
adenoviruses that
occur less frequently in the human population, such as Ad26 and
Ad35. In
contrast to, for instance, Ad35 antibodies, antibodies to Ad5 are
widespread
among people of all ages and are known to lower the immune response to Ad5-
based
vaccines, thereby impairing the efficacy of these vaccines. All
vaccine
candidates based on AdVac® are produced using Crucell's PER.C6®
production
technology.

About the Crucell-Harvard (BIDMC) AIDS/HIV Vaccine (Phase I)

In April 2008, Crucell announced the start of a Phase I clinical study
of the
novel recombinant HIV vaccine. The vaccine is based on Crucell's
AdVac® and
PER.C6® technologies, using adenovirus serotype 26 (rAd26) as
vector, and is
jointly developed by Crucell and the BIDMC, funded by a grant from
the US
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the
National
Institutes of Health. The rAd26 vector is designed to avoid pre-
existing
neutralizing antibodies to the more commonly used adenovirus serotype 5
(Ad5).
Phase I clinical studies are being conducted at the Brigham and Women's
Hospital
in Boston, USA and are focused on assessing the safety and immunogenicity
of the
vaccine in several trials including single and multi-dose regimens. In
October
2009, preliminary results of the Phase I study were presented at La
Conférence
AIDS Vaccine 2009 in Paris, France. The presentation was given by Dr
Dan H.
Barouch, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Vaccine
Research,
Department of Medicine, BIDMC, Boston, USA. The preliminary results of
this
study show that a 3-dose regimen of this HIV candidate vaccine is
safe and
immunogenic.

About the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)

IAVI's core mission is to support in every way the development of
preventive
AIDS vaccines that are not only safe and effective, but also accessible
to all
people. To that end, IAVI invests the bulk of its resources in the
research and
clinical assessment of candidate vaccines against strains of HIV
that are
prevalent in the developing world, where some 95% of new HIV infections
occur.
For more information, visit www.iavi.org.

About Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC)

BIDMC is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard
Medical
School, and consistently ranks in the top four in National Institutes of
Health
funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically
affiliated
with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of Dana-
Farber/Harvard
Cancer Care Center. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve
inherent
risks and uncertainties. We have identified certain important factors
that may
cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in
such
forward-looking statements. For information relating to these factors
please
refer to our Form 20-F, as filed with the US Securities and Exchange
Commission
on April 7, 2010, in the section entitled 'Risk Factors'. The Company
prepares
its financial statements under International Financial Reporting
Standards
(IFRS).